This blog follows the progress of Milo & Madeline Stiles, born in June 2008 at 25 weeks, 2 days gestation, for their friends and family and anyone else who'd like to know about life with premature kids.
Please visit http://www.altabatessummit.org/nicuedu/fac.html and consider making a donation to assist NICU families at Alta Bates Summit Medical Center.

Wednesday, April 1, 2009

A New Friend & Milo's Best Ever Picture

The latest stats:

Maddy:16 lbs 8.5 oz27.25 in.

Milo:14 lbs 9 ozs26.75

As you can see, Maddy continues to dwarf her brother in the size department, but we've discovered one area where Milo has it all over Maddy -- eating solid food. The little guy can pack it away. The babies are eating two solid meals a day now -- breakfast and lunch -- Milo takes pretty much whatever we throw at him. Maddy is a bit more picky, and she gets particularly cranky if we don't allow her to have a lot of control over the spoon. Milo is pretty content to just let us shovel it in for him, though he get impatient if we don't keep it coming. This morning he knocked down 2 tbl spoons of oatmeal, 3 tbl spoons of prunes, and then he took another tbl spoon and a half of yogurt. Maddy ate about 4 tbl. spoons total. Even more surprising is the fact that Milo is actually a pretty clean eater. By comparison, we pretty much need to get out the fire hose after Maddy finishes.

Maddy eating her prunes in a quest for regularity.

Milo working on a third bowl of food.

Despite Milo's eating skills, Maddy is definitely more advanced with her fine motor skills. She loves playing with blocks and is very good at picking things up and moving them from hand to hand. Maddy will also play with two different things at once. (Right now I'm watching her hold a block in one hand an look at it and shake a rattle in the other.) Milo can change objects from hand to hand too, but he does it less often -- mostly he just grabs things and tries to shove them in his mouth. He does like to hold up things and inspect them too though.

In the last week or so, I've discovered that the babies like riding on my shoulders, Milo especially. The little guy gets up there and holds on to my ears like handle bars. Maddy likes it too, but just before we took the picture of her, she spit-up all over my head. I suggested taking the picture anyway, but Elaine wasn't so hot on the idea.

This weekend, M&M had their first playtime with another baby. Our friends Melita, Derek, and their 5-month-old Nicola visited the house, and the babies got a chance to roll around on the mat and size each other up. It's hard to imagine, but in just a few more months, their playtime will get a lot more interesting.

Milo, Maddy & Nicola hanging out.

Melita & Maddy

After visiting, we all headed out to the local beer garden for a Sunday afternoon tipple (and the world's greatest baby photo).

Milo At least hold out for JHONNIE WALKER BLACK ! if you were with me you would be drinking JHONNIE WALKER BLUEMaddie good idea eating pruns and them have your father try and throw you on his shouldersGrandpa